Air seat in an f350 ?

[RLDSL]

Has anyone ever tried to put a low profile air suspension seat ( or one of those fore/aft rocker mounts ) out of a big truck in a '92 ( or equivilant body style ) f350?

I took the 5er out for a good long run last weekend, about 1200 miles and the run back across Oklahoma was just plain painful. The truck rides great on decent pavement since I put a set of Bilstiens on it, but the backslap in the drivers seat on a road with expansion joints is a bit much ( didn't bother the rest of the family, but the joints in my back don't bend anymore so I have nothing to absorb it

Popping in a seat bracket to absorb it sounds like the ticket. Now the thing is to see if one will fit. I do have a tilt steering wheel, so it can be moved out of range


Thanks---------Robert

 

[flatlander]

There is a company that sells dirct bolt in air seats for our seats. I don't have a link anymore, but I think it was National seating or something like that.

 

[RLDSL]

Is this the critter
?

-----Robert

 

[towcat]

Is this the critter
?

-----Robert

that'd be the critter

 

[TLBREWER]

Is this the critter
?

-----Robert

I looked into those and called and talked to them last year when I was looking for seats for one of my trucks. Very pricey (had to buy seats too), but they seem like the ticket if that's what you're looking for. For me it was not practical or in my budget.

Tom

 

[93turbo_animal]

I've wanted to do this for awhile but don't want to spend the money either so I have been hoping I could find an appropriate sized air bag for a reasonable price I think I could build the rest of it and just throw my seat on it

 

[RLDSL]

I got to looking at my current seat setup and to make that thing work I'd have to do some serious modifications, It looks like I have an aftermarket 40/20/40 front seat by the square tube frame and it stretches all the way across. It might be easier to find a used pancake mount air seat at a truck boneyard and rig it to the square frame, otherwise I'd have to cut the frame and weld some new brackets on it. still doable though
Looks like I'd still need to get a fore/aft isolator to go with that National bracket , it looks like it only handles the up and down bounces and not the backslap.

-------Robert

 

[Agnem]

That looks like a great upgrade! Too bad I've already got a grand invested in my current seats.

 

[towcat]

I literally lived in my truck. Comfy butt support is not a luxury but a necessity. Due to passenger and bunk requirements, I rotated out bench seats every six months in my carrier. It costs $300 for a good rebuild and re-upholstery. Saved my from having back problems while driving since '93
bottom line is if you live in your truck, good seating is priceless.

 

[RLDSL]

I literally lived in my truck. Comfy butt support is not a luxury but a necessity. Due to passenger and bunk requirements, I rotated out bench seats every six months in my carrier. It costs $300 for a good rebuild and re-upholstery. Saved my from having back problems while driving since '93
bottom line is if you live in your truck, good seating is priceless.

I know what you mean. I spent about 12 years living in a semi in a previous life. I used to spend some serious cash for good seats ( I wish i could find one like the stock lowback that was in my '72 kenworth, that thing was seriously comfortable until the suspension assembly decided that it had enough of my big carcass trouncing on it .

I've just about got all the fixing done on my truck and trailer and we're getting ready to to some serious traveling with the kids now, so I'm going to have to come up with something to take care of the backslap problem before we take any long trips on the interstate. It rode great on the blacktop two lanes and the interstates in Arkansas that have all been re done in asphalt, but Texas and Oklahoma interstates were torture. I had to spend the better part of 4 days in bed after that last little trip, that's not going to work

------Robert

 

[towcat]

I do the really dead shocks thing in my '92. I prolly will break down this summer and put in a set of Monroe gas-magnums for the fronts though. I've learned with my F450's, there's no reason to put in a set of stiff shocks when you already have a stiff suspension. Fronts got decent shocks to stay away from the deathwobble, but the rears were very dead and the only reason for their presence was to keep the suspension from overtravel.

 

[94f450sd]

but the rears were very dead and the only reason for their presence was to keep the suspension from overtravel.

i usually dont run rear shocks.dont need them.a friend had an f250 that rode sweet with no rears.we put rear shocks in it and when he hit a bump it would hop about 2 feet off the street and rode like crap.my 450s rear shocks are junk and i dont plan on replaceing them.rides hard enough as it is.

 

[RLDSL]

I had a set of Gabriel gas riders that were just plain painful on the thing before but a few weeks ago I put a full set of Bilsteins on the thing and they ride nice, even over bumps, it's just the backslap from the concrete expansion joints with the 5er hooked up that's murder. I took it for about a 6 hour run on the blacktop back roads a couple of weeks ago with the trailer hooked up and it rode fine.
I mostly need the part of an air seat that does the back and forth rocking, that would likely take care of the problem.
Hopefully I'll have some time next week to take a run over to the big truck wrecking yard and see what I can come up with.

---------Robert

 

[RLDSL]

Update:
New ( old )seats installed.
I found that the passenger seats out of an old International 9670 cabover work perfectly they have the heater mounted in a big box under the jump seat so they all use a low profile mount. some are rigid mount, some are rockers and some are rockers with air suspension. some of the older international conventional tractors have the heater under the jump seat setup too.

I managed to get a air seat for the drivers side and a rocker for the passenger.
I had an aftermarket front seat assembly made out of square tubing, so the drivers side was a simple matter of cutting off the old cross braces and welding in a couple in the right place, and the passenger side had a big plate that swung forward, so i just had to drill a couple of new holes there.

I couldn't get a passenger seat the right colour, but I'm putting seat covers on both anyway ( 3 pairs of small fingers in the back seat, don't want the suspension exposed ) besides, my wife LOVES, that passenger seat, everything hits in just the right spots.

I haven't got the compressor mounted yet, but I rigged a line with a schrader valve to charge it ( it looks really high, but once my big carcass gets planted on it, the thing settles down just right

------Robert

 

[Agnem]

i usually dont run rear shocks.dont need them..

You'd find that won't work on the back roads of PA. I ran the Moose Truck once to Columbia PA without any rear shocks. Got the crap scared out of me as I applied the brakes while makeing a turn on a bumpy section of River Road. The ass end came around and tried to pass me while somebody else was going by! There was no getting out of that one. Just God's good blessing that let me slide.